Chapter 134
Chapter 134
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>Translator: Ryuma
>Chapter: 134
>Chapter Title: Who's There?
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The scene of the battle where the Third Sword had arrived was a cauldron of chaos and destruction.
The once lush trees lay broken and lifeless, while nonstop bursts of magical light pierced the darkness of the night.
Explosive booms rang out without fail every time the light flashed.
Boom, boom!
Fwoooosh!
Craaaack—!
Icicle spears rained down from the sky, and crackling lightning struck the earth.
“What the hell is this…….”
Zeke took a moment to take in the battle to understand the situation.
First off……
‘……That’s definitely the Young Patriarch.’
The layout was weird.
Not only were the two mages fighting the most spectacularly, but the Young Patriarch was locked in a fierce clash as well.
Clang, claaaaang!
Dozens of sword flashes in a single breath, ether sparking out like fireworks in all directions.
They didn’t hesitate to throw punches either.
Greeeeend—!
One moment they were locking blades in a test of strength, the next they both dropped their swords to smash fists into each other’s faces.
Thwack!
Clang!
They traded blows simultaneously and staggered back, looking like mirror images of each other.
But the staggering didn’t last long.
“Haha! Weak! So weak!”
“……Ngh.”
The one to recover his balance first was the knight in jet-black armor.
It was only natural, perhaps.
While the Young Patriarch had far more experience, the knight was clad in armor.
The Young Patriarch’s fists weren’t helpless against the metal, but at similar skill levels, gear made a difference that couldn’t be ignored.
Anyway.
As the Young Patriarch, belatedly regaining his balance, lunged for his discarded sword, the black knight charged at him full force.
Boom!
The Young Patriarch went flying far off and crashed.
“Ngh, ugh…….”
He groaned in pain.
The impact of a fully armored knight slamming into him at full strength was no easy thing to shrug off, not even for the Young Patriarch!
Grope, grope.
Even as he groaned in pain, the Young Patriarch scrabbled toward his distant sword. That was when the black knight pounced like a leopard once more!
“Where do you think you’re going! Let’s end this!”
“……Guh!”
The black knight kicked the Young Patriarch away, then mounted him and raised a fist.
‘……!’
Zeke, who had been watching the fight in a daze, instinctively gripped his sword hilt.
‘The nerve!’
But at that moment.
……Clang!
A crisp metallic ring echoed through the forest. The black knight let out a sudden scream at the exact same time.
“……Kaaak!”
“Huh?”
Zeke, on the verge of drawing his sword, unwittingly let out a dumbfounded breath.
And for good reason.
The Young Patriarch, on the defensive, had smashed the black knight’s head with a fist-sized rock!
But it didn’t stop there.
“You sneaky bastard!”
“Ha! Sneaky? Then is your full plate armor fair play?”
“It’s fair! It’s no different from my own body.”
“Then this rock is an extension of my body too. Isn’t it? And it’s not just the rock. Look.”
The Young Patriarch sneered at the staggering black knight and grabbed a handful of dirt from the ground.
The rest was obvious.
Splash!
He hurled the dirt right into the black knight’s face!
But not just once.
“Argh! My eyes, my eyes……!”
Splash, splish, splish!
As if worried it wouldn’t get in, he meticulously sprinkled it two, three times.
Zeke gaped at the sight, utterly dumbfounded.
‘……Y-Young Patriarch?’
Sneaky.
Petty too.
This was…… yeah. Not a duel between honorable warriors, but a back-alley brawl between street thugs.
And yet, the Young Patriarch of the Lortel Family resorting to such dirty tricks?
Unbelievable!
But what surprised Zeke wasn’t just that.
‘Why…….’
Does he look so happy?
Clang! Clang! Clang! Clang!
“Kaaak! Bones! My bones! You hit my bones!”
“Bones? Then I hit right.”
The Young Patriarch had somehow slipped out from under him, grabbed a cheap iron sword, and was now bashing the black knight with it.
He could have gone for the neck. But instead, he obsessively struck with the flat of the blade.
Of course, with ether, flat or edge wouldn’t matter much for lethality, but the Young Patriarch wasn’t even using ether.
He just……
“How’s that? More bones? Or is it this side?”
“S-Stop…… Ack!”
…grinned with utter delight, sweat pouring down, as he happily pummeled his foe.
Zeke shook his head at the bewildering scene.
‘What the hell is…….’
They’d been trying to kill each other moments ago, but now they were busy just beating the crap out of one another.
The black knight was no different.
Crack!
“Guhk……!”
“Hahaha, that’s a joint lock, you idiot.”
A brutal kick to the shin, followed by a fist to the face. Thwack! As the crisp sound rang out, two or three more punches landed before the Young Patriarch could topple over.
This was plenty of chance to finish him too.
Just a bit more ether in the grip…… No, anyone who could stand toe-to-toe with the Young Patriarch could crush his skull with a full-force swing.
“Die! Die!”
Thud, thud!
Despite the vicious atmosphere, neither side used any moves meant to kill.
So, it felt exactly like……
…watching neighborhood kids fighting over who’d be the gang leader.
Realizing that made Zeke notice all the other weird things about this situation.
Not just the Young Patriarch and the black knight—the two mages were the same.
Look.
Craaaaaackle……!
Boom! Kabloooey!
They hurled spine-chilling spells at each other, yet there wasn’t a shred of killing intent. Clean as can be.
And that wasn’t all?
‘What the hell is that guy…….’
Zeke’s eyes were drawn to Aster.
“Slow? Weak? How do you expect to land even one hit like that?”
Endless trash talk mocking his opponent nonstop. Meanwhile, his un-mage-like agility let him dart all over the slope, leaving Zeke in awe.
But that behavior was gradually turning from awe-inspiring to sigh-inducing absurdity.
“Kaaak, you sly bastard! Get lost!”
At some point, he’d steered toward the Young Patriarch and black knight’s fight, subtly sabotaging it.
Zeke had dismissed the first few as coincidence, but now even he could tell.
‘……Troublemaker.’
Yeah, a troublemaker.
But why?
For the Young Patriarch? No, that wasn’t it either.
The gray-haired masked mage sabotaged whichever side gained the upper hand, regardless of Young Patriarch or black knight.
And the most ridiculous part……
Was that the Young Patriarch was pulling the exact same stunts as the masked mage.
Whiiiistle!
“Ah, oof! My bad!”
“Same here.”
He openly chucked a stone, then acted innocent as he charged the black knight.
‘What the…….’
Who was ally and who was enemy?
Impossible to tell.
No, if anything, no one was an ally.
“…….”
“…….”
“…….”
“…….”
The four pairs of sharp eyes brimmed with mutual distrust!
Like they were all ready to stab each other in the back at any moment.
Zeke’s keen insight pinpointed the culprit behind this atmosphere.
The culprit was none other than…… the gray-haired mage!
‘……A real scumbag.’
It wasn’t a matter of skill level.
It was temperament.
Not just anyone with high skill could create this situation.
This chaotic mess was the malicious product of truly rotten creativity, born only from someone with a nasty streak!
Honestly, Zeke wanted to keep watching.
‘They’re hiding their identities, but…… they don’t seem all that evil.’
Above all, it had been ages since he’d seen the Young Patriarch like this.
A bit…… no, a lot rougher. Their malice clashed fiercely, but it never crossed the line.
Like an emotional spat between old friends?
But.
The heartwarming time didn’t last long.
“……Huh?”
Aster, who’d been zipping all over the slope, suddenly halted with a sharp yelp.
Boom……!
A massive icicle spear hit him dead-on, but Aster vaporized it with roaring flames.
“Given up scurrying like a rat?”
“No, hold on a sec. There’s someone over there…….”
That was when a barrage of lightning struck Aster’s head.
Craaaaaackle!
Parun seemed dead set on finishing it, unleashing dozens of lightning bolts that lit up the area like midday.
A terrifying aura erupted centered on Aster right then.
“……Hey!”
Boom—!
An invisible force spread in concentric waves. The air around shifted in an instant.
Zeke frowned slightly at the sight.
Aster’s aura was more overwhelming than he’d expected.
Thanks to that, the chaotic battlefield fell eerily silent in a heartbeat, like cold water doused on it.
“……?”
“What?”
As Parun questioned Aster’s sudden seriousness, Shain—tangled with Sion—asked the same.
Aster, eyes narrowed, stared toward Zeke’s location and spoke.
“No, there’s someone over there?”
“Who?”
“Not a bad lie to buy time. Good acting.”
Aster frustration-exploded at the two who didn’t buy it.
“No, come on…… I get the bug-muncher, but you can’t feel that? It’s so obvious?”
At those words, Zeke—who’d been hiding and watching—stiffened, face hardening.
‘……He sensed me?’
He wasn’t a stealth specialist, but he wasn’t so sloppy that a lesser opponent could detect his presence.
Yet this guy had found him?
Wary, Zeke instinctively sharpened his aura.
Bad news.
It meant the masked mage’s skill was far beyond what Zeke had guessed.
As Zeke thought that far.
“Who’s there? Who’s sneaking around like a rat?”
The masked mage stared straight at him and asked.
A fresh experience for Zeke.
Someone in Lortel lands calling the Third Sword a rat.
But the surprise was brief.
Soon, Zeke stepped out from the bushes.
No matter what, since it involved the Young Patriarch, he needed details.
As Zeke emerged.
“……Hmph.”
“Huh.”
Parun and Shain let out faint sighs.
Parun tensed at the mysterious powerhouse’s appearance, while Shain was purely shocked.
Only Aster stayed utterly nonchalant.
But the most shocked in the group was……
“…….”
The bloodied Sion.
Zeke glanced at the stunned Sion, then turned to Aster.
Zzzzzing—
A suffocating aura dominated the area right after.
“I asked who you are.”
Zeke had seized control in an instant, his haughty eyes taking in the three.
And when his voice emerged, shock spread through their eyes.
For good reason.
“I am the Third of Lortel’s Ten Swords. Zeke, the knight.”
The hidden watcher was none other than Lortel’s Third Sword!
Zeke, having introduced himself, turned the question back.
“And who might you be? Who dares cause a ruckus in Lortel territory?”
Grgrgr—
A suffocating pressure crushed the surroundings. As if the whole mountain screamed.
At the end of that question, Aster thought.
‘This is…….’
Fucked.